Delta Aquarid Meteor Shower Peaks Tonight: How to Watch it Live Online

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The Delta Aquarid meteor shower is peaking from tonight (July 28)
into Tuesday (July 29), and even if you can't catch the cosmic
show in person, you can still see live views of the annual shower
online.

The online Slooh Community Observatory will host a webcast
featuring the Delta Aquarid meteor shower as seen from Arizona
and the Canary Islands off the west coast of Africa, weather
permitting. Experts will also be on hand to discuss the celestial
sight. You can
watch the Delta Aquarid webcast here at Space.com, or you can
check it out directly through Slooh.com. The live show will begin
at 10 p.m. EDT tonight (0200 July 29 GMT), and you can
participate in the conversation on Twitter using the hashtag
#SloohShower.

Astronomers predict that the peak of the shower will produce
about 16 meteors per hour, Slooh representatives said. While the
Delta Aquarid shower usually isn't spectacular, this year it
falls during a new moon, meaning the dim "shooting stars" should
stand out against the dark night sky. Slooh is planning to use
special equipment for the webcast to show as many meteors as
possible. [ The
Best Skywatching Events of July 2014 (Gallery) ]

"The results obtained by this new equipment are what's primarily
fascinating," Slooh astronomer Bob Berman, who will provide
commentary during the webcast, said in a statement. "We're hoping
to capture more meteors than ever before, despite the modest
nature of this relatively little-known shower."

NASA will also host a meteor shower webcast, if weather allows,
on July 29 starting at 9:30 p.m. EDT (0130 July 30 GMT). The
space agency's Delta Aquarid live stream will feature views of
the shower from NASA's Marshall Space flight Center in
Huntsville, Alabama. You can also watch the NASA webcast on
Space.com or
watch through NASA directly.

Scientists still aren't exactly sure of the origin of the Delta
Aquarids, although people have started to unravel the mystery,
according to Slooh representatives. Astronomers now think the
meteor shower is produced when Earth travels through the debris
left behind by Comet Macholtz, which was discovered in 1986.

"The slightly mysterious nature of these often-overlooked
shooting stars adds to the night's fun," Berman said.

Annual meteor showers are created when Earth passes through a
field of debris left in a comet's wake. The particles sloughed
off by the cosmic body burn up in the atmosphere, creating the
shooting stars people see from dark places on the ground.

Editor's Note: If you snap an amazing photo of
the Delta Aquarid meteor shower or any other night sky sight and
would like to share it with Space.com, send images and comments
to managing editor Tariq Malik at spacephotos@space.com.